Alfa Romeo was founded 114 years ago, and while the company has had its ups and downs, they’ve always built some drool-worthy cars.
Granted, these fine Italian machines weren’t necessarily the most reliable, but they certainly looked stunning.
Let’s check out 13 eye-wateringly beautiful Alfa Romeos we just can’t stop staring at.
1967 Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale
Alfa Romeo only built 18 units of the stylish 33 Stradale, and since these cars rarely come up for sale, it’s hard to estimate their value. Experts say they can sell for anywhere between $3 million to $10 million, or maybe more.
With its curvaceous body, low front, large headlights, and butterfly doors, the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale is easily one of the most breathtakingly beautiful cars to ever emerge from Turin, Italy. It also has the power to match its looks, as the 2.0-liter V8 produces 225 hp — that’s plenty in a car that only weighs 1,543 lbs. Getting to 60 mph from a standstill only takes 5.5 seconds, and it can reach a top speed of 160 mph.
1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA
In 1963, Alfa Romeo introduced the 105 Series Giulia Sprint, but it took another two years for the performance-oriented GTA model to arrive. It looked like the Giulia Sprint GT but had aluminum body panels — the ‘A’ was for “Alleggerita”, Italian for “lightened.”
Under the hood, the Giulia Sprint GTA had a 1.6-liter engine with a new, twin-plug/twin-spark head and Weber 45DCOE carburetors. Alfa Romeo went to great lengths to lighten and tune it for racing, and most customers had them further modified and tuned before taking delivery.
1989 Alfa Romeo SZ
The Alfa Romeo SZ features a design you’ll either love or hate. I think it looks stunning, but it’s easy to see how its design earned it the nickname “il mostro” long before it was applied to Ducati’s Monster naked bike.
While it was built by Zagato, the SZ was designed by Alfa Romeo and Fiat. In fact, it’s one of the first CAD/CAM-designed cars, which probably explains all its straight lines and flat surfaces — in the 1980s, computer graphics weren’t anything like they are today. Powered by a 3.0-liter V6, the SZ can sprint to 60 mph in 7 seconds, and it handled better than other most Alfas of that era.
1966 Alfa Romeo Spider
The Spider is arguably the most famous and popular Alfa Romeo model in the States. It was in production from 1966 to 1994, and it was the car Dustin Hoffman drove in The Graduate.
Because of that movie, the first-generation Spider became almost as famous as Hoffman, but strangely, its fame never translated into huge sales. That said, it still looked great, and it’s an automotive icon. Early models were powered by a 1.6-liter engine, but later, it was available with 1.3, 1.8, and 2.0-liter engines.
2007 Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione
Finally, we have a modern sports car on the list. Alfa Romeo’s 8C Competizione is so stunning, it almost hurts to look at it… but in a good way. It cost over $300,000 when it was new, but its looks, performance, and rarity made it worth every penny — only 1,000 cars were built: 500 coupes and 500 spiders.
Alfa Romeo built the 8C Competizione to celebrate the company’s racing heritage. Its name is somewhat confusing, as Alfa Romeo built an 8C in the 1930s, but the 2007 8C Competizione is built to commemorate the 6C 2500 Competizione model Juan Manuel Fangio raced in the Mille Miglia and later won the Targa Florio. In the modern 8C, the “8” refers to the 4.7-liter Ferrari V8 engine that’s hiding under its sleek hood. Producing 444 hp and a glorious soundtrack, the 8C Competizione has a top speed of 190 mph.
2013 Alfa Romeo Disco Volante by Touring
If the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione wasn’t rare and beautiful enough, Italian coachbuilder Touring had a solution. Inspired by the C52 Disco Volante from the 1950s, they resculpted the 8C’s body into the 2013 Alfa Romeo Disco Volante and made it available to a select group of customers.
Under the stunning sheet metal, the Disco Volante had the same engine as the 8C donor car, and when the throttle was floored, it sounded like a symphony to gearheads. This truly is one of the most impressive automotive masterpieces of the 21st century.
1970 Alfa Romeo Montreal
In 1970, Alfa Romeo introduced the first Montreal production model. While it looks good from every angle, it’s the front end that’s the most eye-catching part, with a quad-headlight setup that’s partially covered by retractable grilles.
Hidden beneath the Montreal’s stylish body is a 2.6-liter V8 engine derived from the one found in the 33 Stradale. Producing 197 hp, the Montreal 2+2 coupe could scramble to 60 mph in just over seven seconds and had a top speed of 137 mph.
1962 Alfa Romeo 2600 Sprint Pininfarina Speciale
In the early 60s, Giorgetto Giugiaro was working at Bertone, where he was tasked with refreshing one of his earlier designs — the Alfa Romeo 2000. This resulted in the 2600 Sprint, a flagship model with a hefty price tag,
Pininfarina decided to work their magic on what was already a stunning car, and it really showcased what they could do. Unfortunately, the 2600 Pininfarina Speciale never made it into production, but they did build a spider and coupe version, and both look absolutely stunning.
1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Le Mans Speciale
In the 1930s, Alfa Romeo built a range of road, race, and sports cars with the 8C name, referring to their eight-cylinder engine. The 8C 2900B Le Mans Speciale was one of these models — quite literally, as Alfa Corse only prepared one car for racing in the 1938 24 Hours of Le Mans.
While most Alfa Romeo race cars at the time didn’t have a roof, the Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Le Mans Speciale had a streamlined coupe body built by Carrozzeria Touring. It led most of the race, but eventually had to retire.
1960 Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ Coda Tronca
We’ve already covered the Alfa Romeo SZ from 1989, but the name existed long before that. SZ stands for Sprint Zagato, identifying it as the work of the independent Milanese couchbuilder.
Zagato was one of the pioneers of aerodynamics, and in total, they built around 200 Giulietta SZs, but only 30 of them had the “Coda Tronca” (truncated tail) design, making it one of the most sought-after and desirable Alfas ever. It was longer and more aerodynamic than the other SZs, and weighed less than 1,700 lbs, so even though it only had a 1.3-liter engine, it could still reach a 120 mph top speed.
1964 Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ2
Alfa Romeo introduced the Giulia TZ when it was time to replace the Giulietta SZ race car. The TZ, meaning Tubolare Zagato, had a tube-frame chassis and light all-aluminum bodywork made by Zagato. It was built for the Gran Turismo racing classes and used the 1.6-liter engine from the Giulia. With 160 hp, the TZ could reach a 134 mph top speed.
Following the TZ was the even sleeker TZ2, with a tighter, more streamlined fiberglass body. Power was now increased to 170 Italian ponies, which, combined with the new bodywork, meant the TZ2 had a top speed of 152 mph. Only 12 were built, and unlike the TZ1, all the TZ2s were race cars.
1954 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint 2+2
If you’ve ever been to Italy, you’d know why the Italians love small, sporty cars. The city streets are narrow, and the countryside is filled with twisty, winding roads. The Giulietta Sprint 2+2 was the perfect vehicle for Italian road trips.
It was first released as a coupe, designed and built by Bertone, which was later followed by a spider, sedan, and wagon, all of them powered by the first version of Alfa Romeo’s famous Twin Cam unit.
1955 Alfa Romeo 750 Competizione
In 1955, Alfa Romeo’s engineers played around with various ideas, and the 750 Competizione was a racecar concept that was close to fruition. Designed to race in the under-1500 cc class, it was very loosely based on the 750 Giulietta.
All the important components were purpose-built for the racecar, including the chassis and body, which was built by Abarth and Boano, respectively. The engine also came from the Giulietta, but the displacement was increased from 1290 cc to 1488 cc, and it was given a pair of twin-choke Weber carburetors. With 150 hp sent to the wheels via a 5-speed gearbox, it was an impressive little car.
Author: Andre Nalin
Expertise: Automotive
